Father, son play U.S. Open

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - There's a trophy case in Jay Haas' home filled with badges from each of his appearances in the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

There's the one from the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 1974, his first major. One from the 1995 Masters, where he tied for third. One from the 1999 PGA Championship, where he also finished third with son Jay Jr. as his caddie.

Haas' younger son, Bill, has walked by that case hundreds of times, looking at it with a mixture of awe and respect.

Now he can clear some room of his own in it.

"To get here and to qualify is something special for myself and both of us," said the younger Haas, who qualified last week to give the U.S. Open its first father-son duo in six years.

"Just looking at all of his little pins that they give you, this week's my first. So it's kind of neat."

Neat doesn't even begin to describe his father's feelings.

"I don't have words to express it, how much fun I'm having watching Bill play here in his first U.S. Open," Jay said after finishing a practice round with his son Tuesday.

"I was thinking back, 1974 was my first U.S. Open at Winged Foot, and then I played here at Medinah in '75 as an amateur. Just to think that that much time has gone by, and I'm still playing and he's out there now, it's a thrill of a lifetime."

Golfing is a tradition in the Haas family. Jay's uncle is former Masters champion Bob Goalby. His brother, Jerry, is the golf coach at Wake Forest, where Bill just finished his junior year and Jay was a two-time All-American.

Jay and his wife, Janice, never pushed the game on any of their five children. The boys occasionally caddied for dad, and golf was always there. But Bill, 21, said he preferred basketball when he was growing up.

It was only in high school that he got serious about golf.

"I was shorter than everybody, and wasn't as talented on the basketball court. So golf filled that spot," he said.